


(In)human enough

by AliaMael



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hopeful Ending, mention of suicidal thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21553714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliaMael/pseuds/AliaMael
Summary: In the aftermath in the Long Game, a misunderstanding lingers.
Relationships: Hanekoma Sanae & Kiryu "Joshua" Yoshiya
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	(In)human enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ennael](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ennael/gifts).



> I was supposed to work on "Of dead and living spirits". And then I got distracted, wondering what I could write with more Joshua. So I 300% blame Ennael for this fic happening randomly ;p Hope you enjoy ♥
> 
> (Also it's 3am so please point me my typos lol)

Days after the Long Game, Sanae was still picking up shards of glass from the floor of his café.

He could have magicked it all away, but he needed time to process what had happened, and so WildKat would take time to get back to pristine and functional too. Cleaning and repairing by hand left him time to think. And maybe lying low was a good idea, anyway.

He had not exactly played by the rules.

It didn't pan out the way he thought it would, either.

At least, Shibuya was still whole, and the kids had made it out alive. But Sho was missing (Sanae didn't think he was erased, but he was not certain of it), and worse, Joshua was avoiding him.

(Megumi's erasure was regrettable, but it had been his decision to enter a Game with the Composer. Sanae couldn't do anything to save him.)

Thing was, Sanae knew he was missing something. Joshua's attitude was making it obvious. But he couldn't figure out what it was, at least not by himself.

So he was more than relieved to see Joshua come in, even if he was wearing a thunderous glare.

"Alright. We need to talk," Joshua attacked.  
"Agreed. Take a seat, I already cleaned these ones, they should be safe."

Joshua frowned.

"Don't pretend you care."

Sanae blinked.

"I'm… not pretending?"

Joshua put on an ugly smirk.

"Liar. I thought we got along alright, so care to explain what I did to deserve your hate?"  
"I don't hate you Josh!"

There was a silence. Slowly, Joshua's expression morphed into surprise.

"You're sincere," he finally said.  
"Of course I am!"  
"Are you even conscious you don't make sense?"

Sanae sighed and sat down.

"Not really, no. For me it's you who don't make sense, but given that I'm more of an outsider than you…"

He shrugged.

"I guess you're right and I'm the weird one. Doesn't make it any easier to understand, though."  
"What is there to understand? You tried to get rid of me!"

Sanae bit back his instinctive denial and thought hard.

"… are you talking about what I did with Sho?"  
"Of course! What, was there something else I didn't catch?" Joshua spit.  
"No Josh! It's just that… listen, I'm trying ok? But I don't understand why you're so mad at me. I was only trying to protect Shibuya."  
"By erasing me."  
"Of course not! I just said I was trying to protect you!"

Joshua slammed his hands unto the table in front of Sanae.

"You did NOT. You said you wanted to protect _Shibuya_."  
"But… You _are_ Shibuya…"

Joshua blinked, sighed, and finally sat down, putting his elbows on the table and his face in his hands.

"Sanae. I'm not the city. I'm a person," he said with the tone usually reserved to small children.  
"… I… "  
"Seriously. How come you can't see the difference?"

Sanae was beginning to understand how wrong he had been, and part of him wanted to stop thinking about it immediately, before the full scope of it rammed him into the face.

"I… I may look human, but I'm not," he explained, subdued. "I never was. Actually, I'm far closer to human than I _should_ be. I've been going native, kinda. But apparently not enough."  
"You don't say…" Joshua acidly pointed.  
"I'm trying to understand! But you… for me you always were Shibuya, and Shibuya was always you. Same Music, only one entity."

Joshua looked up at him, finally, but it was with pity.

"I'm not Shibuya. Someone was Composer before me. Someone else will be after me, it's only a matter of time. When you sent Sho after me, you may have been trying to protect Shibuya, but you were definitely putting me in danger. And apparently you didn't even realise it."

Now, Sanae felt sick.

"I… I wanted to protect _you_. Both of the things I thought of as _you_. I… I would never want to sacrifice one for the other."  
"You fucked up," Joshua said, the lack of emotion making it even harsher.  
"I… am beginning to see that, now."

A silence.

"You were not _totally_ wrong either," Joshua admitted softly.  
"… how so?"  
"I'm _linked_ to Shibuya and… erasing Shibuya? That would have erased me."

Sanae fixed Joshua, horrified.

"You _wanted_ to… to…"  
"To erase myself, yeah. And instead of being here for me, like a _friend_ , you tried to have me killed."

There it was, the brick to the face.

"Joshua, I… I'm sorry."  
"I want to believe you, but I don't know if I should."  
"… I probably deserve that," Sanae admitted, dejected.

Joshua sighed. Sanae waited for him to get up and leave, but he didn't move.

"Josh? Are you… ok?"  
"Of course not… I may have decided to live, but… it's not been _that_ long."

And now, a brick to the heart Sanae was not really supposed to have.

"I want to help… _Can I_ help?"  
"I don't know. Can you be a friend? For real this time?"  
"I… I want to. I'm just afraid to mess up again."  
"What do you use to say? 'Trust your partner'?"  
"… yeah?"  
"I'm probably stupid for this, but I do trust you."

Sanae couldn't help the hopeful smile that appeared on his lips.

"And I you. So… let's try this again, _partner_?"  
"You only get to call me partner if I don't pay my coffee."  
"… already the hard bargains."

Joshua smirked.

It was so much better.


End file.
